title: Offspring of parents with an alcohol use disorder prefer higher levels of brain alcohol exposure in experiments involving computer-assisted self-infusion of ethanol (CASE).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Acute alcohol effects may differ in social drinkers with a positive family history of alcohol use disorders (FHP) compared to FH negative (FHN) controls.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether FHP subjects prefer higher levels of brain alcohol exposure than do FHN controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-two young healthy nondependent social drinkers participated in two identical sessions of computer-assisted self-infusion of ethanol (CASE); the first for practicing the procedures, the second to test hypotheses. All 12 FHP (four women) and ten FHN (three women) participants received a priming exposure, increasing arterial blood alcohol concentration (aBAC) to 30 mg% at 10 min and decreasing it to 15 mg% at 25 min. A 2-h self-administration period followed, during which only the subjects could increase their aBAC by pressing a button connected to a computer controlling the infusion pump. Infusion rate profiles were calculated instantaneously to increase aBAC by precisely 7.5 mg% within 2.5 min after each button press, followed by a steady descent. Subjects were instructed to produce the same alcohol effects as they would do at a weekend party.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean and maximum aBAC during the self-administration period and the number of alcohol requests (NOAR) were significantly higher in the FHP vs. FHN participants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first laboratory experiment demonstrating higher alcohol self-administration in FHP compared to FHN subjects. A practice session increases the sensitivity of CASE experiments for detection of subtle differences in human alcohol self-administration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Addictive Behavior and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany. ulrich.zimmermann@uniklinikum-dresden.de
authors.forename: Ulrich S
authors.initials: US
authors.lastname: Zimmermann
authors.forename: Inge
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mick
authors.forename: Manfred
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Laucht
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vitvitskiy
authors.forename: Martin H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Plawecki
authors.forename: Karl F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Mann
authors.forename: Sean
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: O'Connor
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology*; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D012646:Self Administration; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D000431:Ethanol